Detained foreign activists to be deported from Myanmar
Detained foreign activists to be deported from Myanmar
YANGON (Agencies): Eighteen foreign activists, including three Indonesians, were sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor yesterday for handing out democracy leaflets, but will be deported from Myanmar today, AP reported.
Moments after a judge sentenced the activists to prison, an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs read an order reducing the sentences and saying the activists would be expelled on condition that they would not violate Myanmar's laws again.
He asked diplomats from the six Asian and Western nations from which the activists came to arrange for their deportations.
The defendants, who appeared solemn when the judge read out the five-year sentence, jumped up, embraced each other, shook hands and thanked those around them in the courtroom after the deportation order was announced.
They were also embraced by diplomats from their respective countries who attended the one-day trial in a small concrete courthouse outside the walls of Insein Prison north of Yangon.
The six Americans, three Malaysians, three Indonesians, three Thais, two Filipinos and one Australian were charged, after six days of questioning and investigation, with violating section 5j of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act.
The sweeping law allows for maximum jail terms of 20 years for inciting unrest and disturbing the peace and tranquility of the state.
The reduction in sentences came after one of the defendants, a Malaysian man, appealed to the judge. He said he and his colleagues meant no harm to the Myanmar people, didn't intend to incite unrest and were unaware of the local laws.
Some observers said the episode appeared pre-planned. The Myanmar government was caught between trying to discourage foreign activists from coming and inciting the local populace, and souring relations with foreign countries.
In Jakarta earlier yesterday morning, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas gave signal of the three Indonesians impending release.
"I spoke to (Myanmar) Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw last night, hopefully they will soon be released," he told journalists while claiming they had not been arrested but were just "being questioned".
The three Indonesians are R. Fadjri, a Yogyakarta based correspondent for The Jakarta Post and D&R magazine, and Sulaiman and Christian from a human rights non-governmental organization.
The activists were detained with 15 others on Sunday for handing out small cards to Myanmar citizens telling them the outside world supported their struggle for democracy and to not give up.
Suu Kyi -- Page 5